Trivia

Character

History

A lonely traveler with one goal in mind: to end his life by sharing his remaining years with destined others. Over a journey of one thousand years, Xathanael learned from his past mistakes, behaviour, and troubles that allowed him to reach his final destination of rest. In a sense, it almost made him feel remorseful for leaving a changing but beautiful world of which yet many places had yet to be explored or revisited.

The Creeping Realization

Living in a small village in a mountainous valley area, his kind had plentiful food, friends, and happiness. Although Xathanael did not have a "special" ability like the majority of his village did, he did possess a passive ability like the minority. It was uncommon however to not see visible signs of the passive ability, but his family members and village did not mind at all. Xathanael only realized what his passive ability was the moment he started to notice those that he loved had started to pass away.

The conditions of the village deteriorated over the hundreds of years. This was understandable given their landscape, as the mountains grew taller, slowly cutting of vital sources of water, food, and warmth. Slowly, the village grew cold. The people dwindled. All that was left of the village was gravestones and Xathanael.

Xathanael had never cursed his life until now, as he had realized his passive ability was an abnormal longevity.

How long had he been alive for? He couldn't remember the years.

The Stranger

While tending to the graves of his people, a stranger stopped by. Given that Xathanael's village was located in an isolated part of the world, he thought he was hallucinating at first. It wouldn't be surprising, given that he had given up eating, drinking, and doing other necessary functions in order for an ordinary being to stay alive. His race's abnormal healing rate did not help either, whenever he tried to find ways to end his life. Hallucinating a stranger of whom he could not see his face was something out of the ordinary but not surprising.

The stranger spoke, startling Xathanael when he approached closer to the "apparition". It had been decades since he had last spoke to anything, really.

After small conversation, the stranger offered a deal. Handle these nine books, write in the pages with this special quill that pours your very life into ink, and return them to their appropriate owners when the books are completed. "There's a catch, however," the stranger added.

The Journey

Contemplating this sudden deal with an equally sudden stranger, Xathanael accepted the proposition. After all, he had nothing else to lose and shaving off the largest chunk of his lifespan would do him a great deed. Packing whatever he had, he left on his journey with the stranger, who soon parted ways after they reached the base of the mountain.

The first few books went well, protecting a child, helping a demon find his way back home, and helping a Forest God save his dwelling from the dangers of invading forces and fire. However, on the fourth book owner, things started to turn downhill. Naive to her narcissistic ways, he almost became captured and displayed in a cage along with the other animals she took care of. This made him very wary afterwards, and shunned people the moment they started to come close. He was lost, deep in thought, and struggling to understand why he was doing this contract if it meant keeping people like her alive. The next book owner sensed his worries, and offered to help him talk his feelings out, should he feel strong enough to share. This exercise did help him somewhat, but the wariness towards others was still there. Thankfully for Xathanael however, he never bumped into another book owner as the beast keeper. He had even fallen in love with one of them, but forced himself to continue with his journey, as taking him along with the journey would be too cruel as it was long and lonely.

Over the years of travelling, Xathanael started to realize that he was starting to lose his memories. He guessed that the reason why he was forgetting certain things was in part him giving his lifespan away to the book owners, and in part to naturally aging old. Although it was exciting that Xathanael realized that he was growing old, a new fear had set in. Realizing his journey across the continent made him want to see more, ending it soon was disappointing. He had explored so much of the world, revisiting old landscapes that changed drastically over the millenium, meeting new people, and trying new things. If he could start his life over, it would have been now, but alas, he would not be able to dream of such an event.

Completing his task by handing over the last book to an escpecially difficult-to-find owner, he made his way over to his final destination - the one place that stood out in his memory, and the first place he understood how to love again.

The Ending

Arriving at a large, glowing tree that was once a sapling, Xathanael sat down, leaning his back against the base of the tree. The night had arrived, making the scenery especially beautiful. While Xathanael was contemplating his life and journey, to the most that he could remember, he was approached by an elderly man. The elderly man asked him the question if he had enjoyed his life, to which Xathanael responded with a small smile and a quiet voice.

Quill Conditions

Given to him by the Stranger along with the set of nine books, this quill is the only thing that can write in them. Fragile as it is, the Stranger warned him to take care of it.

• The quill cannot be broken, as it is the only thing that can write in these books.

• The quill can only be used by the owner. No ink will come out otherwise.

Book Conditions

Also provided by the Stranger, the nine books vary in size and length. Some books are locked, meaning they can only be opened after a certain amount of time has passed. Smaller books mean the book owner has a relatively short life compared to other species. In addition, some of these books have already been written in, making Xathanael suspecting that there were previous contractors that somehow failed to complete their task.

These books represent both currently living individuals and individuals who have yet to be born. The purpose of the books is to allow the owner, who is not aware of its existence, to bypass a catastrophic event that normally leads to their death. By handing over the book, the owners are able to extend their lives to the fullest amount possible for their specific races, as the amount of years and "healing" cover the "expenses" of the catastrophic event.

• Writing in the books must be done once per day. Failure to do so results in books withering. Owners die with the withering.

• Once the book is completed, it must be returned within a short amount of time. The book will wither otherwise, leading to the book owner's death.

• Each respective owner shares the same mark that is presented on the book cover. It is only the book that acts as a beacon to finding the owner.

• Books that have withered will transfer back the years that were inputted. This includes years that were not originally Xathanael's.

Bell Conditions

Gifted by the Forest God, the third book owner, as a present for saying thanks and to act as a shield later on. Each bell, of which It provided two, enables the safest probability of survival, but only if the probability of surviving is small. The bells are otherwise soundless.

• The owner of the bells must be stuck in a situation whereby escaping safely is incredibly small.

• A bell can only be used once. It shatters after its use has been fulfilled.